Exercise: Painting from a Working Drawing

For this study, I choose the objects on my dressing table, which is an old Art Deco piece with a mirrored back and glass top.  

We are asked to make two preliminary drawings: a linear study concentrating on the main shapes and lines, and a tonal study.  As we are specifically asked not to make the drawings too large, I completed the two sketches on A5 (the linear study in artliner pen and the tonal study in charcoal pencil).

Apart from the main objects in the composition, my main focus was the effect of light on the objects (there being glass surfaces as well as a jam “coin” jar) and the shadow detail, as I find these are the details which are not so easy to “make up” if you don’t have all the necessary detail in the original sketches.

Although the A5 sketch was OK for the linear detail, I found it hard in the tonal study (and especially using charcoal pencil) to note the fine highlights on the glass and reflections (eg on the beads both in the original and reflected image).  I also had to add a larger amount of detail that I would normally in a tonal sketch, purely in order to get the placing of the highlights, etc on the mahogany dressing table set.

I also realised after completing these drawings that although, technically you should have enough information by completing a line and tonal drawing, the one thing which I would struggle with would be the details in objects (specifically in this case the jar of coins and two plastic coin bags sitting next to it) as these details were not really included (or asked for) in either of the two preliminary sketches.  

Also, in the colour sketch, we are asked to concentrate on the main colours by painting boldly and not making a detailed description of the objects.  Rather than getting too fiddly and detailed in the main drawing, I think where you do have an area of high detail (such as fabric folds or a complex object) would be to complete a more detailed study of perhaps a section of those.

Finished study in acrylic (45 x 60cm)

I struggled somewhat in this painting – basically because it was such a hot day (30+) that the acrylic paint (used neat) was pretty much drying on contact!  I had planned to use a loose technique for this exercise anyway, purely because when you are working from drawings, you do not have the amount of detail available to you as you would if painting from life.  As it was, I used large 1” and ¾” flat brushes for the whole painting, loaded with lots of paint just so I could get the length of brushstrokes in.  I used a bright green ground which I thought would (1) contrast with the red/brown tones and also provide a brightness to the yellows / blues / creams.  The one area which is wrong is the angle of the mirror on the table - will need to go back and correct this.

Also, you have to make more decisions as to what to put in and what to leave out (such as the detail on the cosmetics) and just concentrate on the main forms and overall tonal balance.  This I think I have achieved well – I made careful visual notes in my tonal drawing of the shadows/ reflections/ highlights so that part of the painting is fine. After starting the painting, I decided to leave out the detail of the curtain folds reflected in the mirror to concentrate more on the objects on the table. 

I think what I would do in future (when not restricted by the course notes!) would be to combine the line and tonal drawing to include more detail – not necessarily on the larger “squares and cylinder” objects as, once you have the direction of the light, it is relatively straightforward to model the form, but on the more complex objects (in this case jar filled with coins).  I think you have to decide in advance which areas you will find more difficult to complete “from memory / visual notes” and work accordingly.